While Matt Damon has taken the back seat to his “True Grit” co-stars Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld so far this awards season, the actor was acknowledged Friday night (January 14) by the Broadcast Film Critics Association during the 16th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for his humanitarian efforts.

In a segment presented by Jimmy Kimmel and Emily Blunt, Damon was given the fourth annual Joel Siegel Award for Service to the Community. While Kimmel provided comic relief, joking that the Oscar winner is “the greatest guy in the world,” the actor received serious accolades for his charity, Water.org.

Blunt, who stars with Damon in the upcoming film “The Adjustment Bureau,” explained that the organization Damon co-founded with Gary White helps to “provide developing countries with safe drinking water and sanitation by partnering with local communities.”

As Blunt delivered the staggering statistics that less than 1 percent of the Earth’s water is drinkable and more than 1 billion people don’t have access to clean water, Kimmel continued to kid with Damon, telling him, “Sean Penn is actually in Haiti right now … carrying things!”

Kimmel, who gets the last laugh at Damon’s expense every night on his late-night show, then cried foul on Damon’s many awards, mocking, “You know how much water he wasted in that shower scene in ‘School Ties’? A lot!”

Damon, playing as good a sport as ever to Kimmel’s jabs, then took the stage to accept his award to a standing-ovation audience that included his “Good Will Hunting” collaborator Ben Affleck. After taking a shot back at Kimmel — “I literally have no idea why you’re here,” he quipped — Damon got serious about receiving what he described as “a wonderful honor.”

The actor acknowledged the work of late film critic Joel Siegel, who, as Damon told the crowd, “Believed that you should use celebrity to improve the lives of others and he lived that way. So, I’m really honored to get this in his name.”

Though plenty of the segment included joking around with Kimmel, Damon got very serious when he delivered the news that, “Every 15 seconds, a kid somewhere on planet Earth dies because they don’t have access to clean water and sanitation.”

Calling that information “disgusting and unacceptable and unnecessary,” he added, “These are issues we’ve known how to solve here for 100 years in our country. … Just imagine if we cured AIDS tomorrow and in 100 years people were still dying of it, 3 million of them a year. It’s just really ridiculous.”

Damon concluded his speech by thanking his partner, White, and informed viewers that by donating $25 on the Water.org website, they could give a child “clean water for life.” He then promised that they would change the fact that 1 billion people do not have clean water and offered to viewers, “Feel free to join us.”

Getting special recognition during the course of the evening, Matt Damon was toasted at the 16th annual Critics’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California on Friday (January 14).

With the always-swanky ceremony taking place at the Hollywood Palladium, the “Bourne Indentity” star was brought onstage by Emily Blunt and Jimmy Kimmel to receive the fourth annual Joel Siegel Award.

The honor was bestowed upon Damon, a renowned actor and philanthropist, as a way to pay homage to beloved Good Morning America film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June, 2007.

Other big winners at the Critics’ Choice Awards included “The Social Network” as Best Movie and Natalie Portman as Best Actress.

Actress Emily Blunt and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel will present Damon with the fourth annual Joel Siegel Award, named for the “Good Morning America” film critic who died of cancer in 2007.

Quirky film director Tarantino will get the first-ever Critics’ Choice Music+Film Award, designed to honor filmmakers for extraordinary cinematography combined with brilliant use of source and soundtrack music. Actor Tim Roth will make the presentation.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced today that at this year’s 16th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Matt Damon will receive the Joel Siegel award. Get it, Damon!

The show will air live on Jan. 14th, and this is the 4th annual Siegel award to be given out. The award and its name comes from “Good Morning America” film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost a battle with cancer in June, 2007.

According to the BFCA, their reasons for choosing Damon as a recipient are many, and not only include his astounding film career— this past year he appeared in the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, and Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone— but also his dedication to charitable work.

“Matt personifies the values celebrated by the Joel Siegel Award,” said BFCA President Joey Berlin after the announcement. “Among his many charitable endeavors, Matt’s work as co-founder of Water.org has inspired us to honor him… Matt is also a founder of Not On Our Watch, which focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. He helps fight AIDS and poverty as a supporter of the ONE Campaign. He is also an ambassador for ONEXONE, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in the United States and around the world, and a spokesperson for Feeding America, this country’s largest hunger-relief organization.”

After providing the many examples of charity work that Damon has immersed himself in, Berlin added, “Clearly Matt understands, as Joel did, that the true value of celebrity is as an enhanced platform to do good works for others.”

Damon is a true eco-celeb, not only supporting causes that better humanity but the world at large, and we hope that this award will show just how much charitable work is appreciated!

If knowledge of one category isn’t enough for you, then click here to see a full list of nominations or tune into VH1 on Jan. 12 to watch it live.

The award is for Damon’s humanitarian and charitable efforts, including co-founding Water.org. The organization is committed to helping “draw attention to the world’s number one health problem, unsafe and inadequate water supplies, and to raise funds to help fight this immense problem — one community at a time,” according to its website.

Damon is also a founder — along with celebrity buddies George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle and others — of Not On Our Watch, to bring attention to genocide and other crises around the world; is spokesman for the Feeding America anti-hunger campaign; supports the One Campaign to end extreme poverty, particularly in Africa; and serves as an ambassador for the nonprofit foundation OneXOne, which works to improve the lives of children in this country and around the world.

“Matt personifies the values celebrated by the Joel Siegel Award,” BFCA President Joey Berlin said in a statement. “Clearly Matt understands, as Joel did, that the true value of celebrity is as an enhanced platform to do good works for others.”

Joel Siegel, longtime film critic for ABC’s “Good Morning America” and a BFCA member, died from complications of cancer in June 2007.

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